Reviewer:
tomfoolery72
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
March 6, 2020
Subject:
So you’ve always assumed 95 sucks?
Yeah, so did I for a number of years. I was at Deer Creek on the lawn with my wife, and we were inadvertently teargassed during the first set. Stupid fucking children destroying the goddamn fence, on top of a death threat, and the next night was cancelled. So I can’t say I remember enjoying the music very much, and Jerry was lousy. And I assumed all the shows from that year were the worst overall in 30 years, and why bother. But if there aren’t any great start-to-finish shows, there sure are a bunch of damn nice songs and grooves. Even if Jerry wasn’t doing anything fancy on his guitar, he could still hang in there with the other guys who had all grown yet again to fill his shoes.
This show is a great example. I have a roughly 30 minute drive home after work and usually only play All Too Much (the first and best version of my 2nd favorite Beatles song!) and Iko (long and bouncy!), and then the kill-me-Dead Visions of Johanna (the best version of my very favorite Dylan song!) But I checked out the rest of the set again and it’s actually very strong for the Vince era, especially post-Bruce. Playin gets into chaotic breakdown space before a solid UJB; 1972 quality they are not, but then again neither is anything else. Drums is always one of my favorite parts of most every S2, and increasingly so as we entered the post-Ronald Raygun era. This one is 12 minutes of kicking ass and you should not skip it. Space is however not a notable version - the first 2/3 are one of those slow atonal meanders that doesn’t go anywhere in particular, but it does pick up quite a bit over the last 5 or 6 minutes. Last Time is top notch and tight. I almost always skip any OMSN dated after 5/26/72; this one is okay but meh. The Rain encore (my 3rd favorite Beatles song!) is the best one I’ve heard - uptempo, beautiful vocal harmonies, everyone on cue - just like a Swiss watch. 😎